Chilling but shallow.
Literally haunted by her actions, a bully must make amends—or else.
Samantha fails a spelling test, so her parents punish her by refusing to let her go on a day trip to Rocky River Adventure Park with her friends. Rather than study harder, Samantha takes it out on classmate Rachel—her ex–best friend, whom she relentlessly bullies due to a past betrayal. A choice encounter outside of school gives Samantha an opportunity to rid herself of Rachel once and for all. She pushes her into Lake Lamont. Rachel doesn’t resurface. Guilt wracks Samantha at school the next day until she sees Rachel alive and well. But how did Rachel get out of the lake when Samantha watched her die? And how can Samantha make Rachel stop haunting her in revenge? Suspense nearly drips from this spooky page-turner, as wet handprints, hallucinations, and relentless phone calls lead Samantha back to the scene of her crime. Particularly tense scenes dip into verse territory, heightening the drama. Unfortunately, the line breaks in these portions feel more contrived than poetic. While Samantha’s first-person narration is soaked through with self-pity, her backstory unspools to round out the human behind the bully. Supporting characters come up flat and presume a white default. For all its writing flaws, however, genre fiction seekers will nonetheless devour this thrilling redemption arc.
Chilling but shallow. (Horror. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-338-54052-9
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
A real gem.
A 10-year old girl learns to adjust to a strange town, makes some fascinating friends, and fills the empty space in her heart thanks to a big old stray dog in this lyrical, moving, and enchanting book by a fresh new voice.
India Opal’s mama left when she was only three, and her father, “the preacher,” is absorbed in his own loss and in the work of his new ministry at the Open-Arms Baptist Church of Naomi [Florida]. Enter Winn-Dixie, a dog who “looked like a big piece of old brown carpet that had been left out in the rain.” But, this dog had a grin “so big that it made him sneeze.” And, as Opal says, “It’s hard not to immediately fall in love with a dog who has a good sense of humor.” Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal meets Miss Franny Block, an elderly lady whose papa built her a library of her own when she was just a little girl and she’s been the librarian ever since. Then, there’s nearly blind Gloria Dump, who hangs the empty bottle wreckage of her past from the mistake tree in her back yard. And, Otis, oh yes, Otis, whose music charms the gerbils, rabbits, snakes and lizards he’s let out of their cages in the pet store. Brush strokes of magical realism elevate this beyond a simple story of friendship to a well-crafted tale of community and fellowship, of sweetness, sorrow and hope. And, it’s funny, too.
A real gem. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0776-2
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2000
SEEN & HEARD
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